I'm guessing that title got you? Well, those aren't my words. Our very first podcast was on swearing and the building up of the body through our language. In it, we addressed BadChristian podcast's article on why swearing isn't against the Biblical mandate. They come from the perspective that words can shift meaning, and therefore there can't be words that are universally "wrong." We gave some good counter arguments. Some people have posted our podcast on their website and tweeted it to them asking for a response. We haven't heard from them.
Today I read this.
Now here's what gets me. I've heard people making the arguments found on their blog for a real long time. Those who make the arguments always seem to bring up the idea that swear words don't necessarily tear people down. Then I read stuff or hear stuff like this out of those same people.
The kicker here is that their tweet completely undermines their article. The article uses this specific word and tries to point out that the "sh" word means the same thing as "crap." But if we replace one with the other, "Merry Christmas, pieces of crap," does that help at all? Does that make it less offensive? Is this the picture Christians are to have of Gabriel saying that he brings glad tidings of great joy?
The thing here is the demonstration of inconsistency in the application of what they're teaching. The response? Don't look to BadChristian for Spiritual guidance and growth. As a matter of fact, is listening to them at all beneficial? That's not for me to decide. However, being that our podcast is not strictly apologetics or debating, but is trying to steer towards growth and maturity through sound theology and exegesis, I do want to make an analogy here.
A couple weeks ago I was doing some Christmas shopping. I wandered into the Christian bookstore and was appalled at the selection I found there. Heresy and heretics line the shelves, intermingled with some really good and trustworthy authors. The analogy here is that when you follow people like this, who call themselves Christians, advertise their Christianity, but look like the world, and seemingly have no concern for the growth and maturity of their listeners- it's just like walking into the bookstore. You need to keep your guard up, because it's always the most dangerous when you feel the most comfortable with dropping your guard. I fear for those who drop their guard with BadChristian and come to think that BC represents the face of mature Christianity.
God Bless and Merry Christmas,
Mike Senders
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